Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-08-27
HERALD.
THROUGH THE SIERRAS.
Miss COnklin Appears at a
Mountain Musicale.

Mountain Musicale.
A few weeks since, your CORE
spondent. accompanied by J. Hitch
cock and l.. B. Robinson. of Traver
made trip to Independence, InyC
county. James Purcell, wife and two
daughters accompanied the party as
far as the south fork OF Kings river
where they went into camp,
The first stay made after leaving
Traver was at Comstock's Mill, dis.
tant fifty miles. In the neighborhood
are some gigantic trees; one of these
measures 104 feet in circumference
another near by SO feet. These are
dead trunks, standing upward, but
without bark. Seven miles further a
stay was made at Big Meadows this
is fine stock range, full of cat
tie; thence to Boulder Creek, five
miles. The trail passes over rolling
country with plenty of little grassy
ravines by the way. Horse Corral is
two and half miles further; this is a
lovely green meadow and a good
camping place. Summit Meadows is
distant three miles, and is another
pretty, grassy plain. In this neigh
borhood the party found game plenti-
full; deer, few bear and mountain
quail. One bear was killed, but none
OF the party had any ambition to 60
after more. Deer meat, quail and
trout were good enough, but they
hadn't lost any bears. From the sum-
NIT the trail runs down a steep noun
tain seven miles to the south fork Of
Kings river. The party travelled nine
miles up the stream between
very high cliffs; here a fine
camping place was selected and the
stakes fixed for stay. This region is
in the very heart of the Sierras, the
loftiest submits of the whole range
towering around; snow fields are near
on every side; streams dash down the
mountain or leap over precipices of
great height. There are cailons that
rival Yosemite in the height of the
cliffs and surpass it in the grandeur of
the surrounding mountains. Trout
abound in the streams and can be
taken in any desired quantity. On
Saturday morning Mr.. Bledsoe, Mr..
Hitchcock and Mr.. Robinson left the
camp at Kings river for Independence,
crossing the ridge to Bubbo creek and
camping at a little meadow.
On the night following our arrival at
Independence we attended an enter
tainment at Mair's Hall. This was
gotten up by number of young ladies
for the benefit of brass band, organ
lied in the town a few months ago.
The affair was very successful and the
audience marked their approval by
frequent and warm applause. The
principal features of the programme
were national guard drill by COM
pany of young ladies; vocal sole by
Miss Conklin; piano solo by Miss Al
ice Rhine, and '"Three Little Maids
from School," This last was the gem
of the whole performance. The three
little girls who rendered the piece were
trained to high degree of excellence;
their sweet, fresh voices were as pleas
ing as the voices of birds, and the
sang as if they were bubbling over
with laughter. Miss Conklin has a
voice of great power, and has evident
" been well instructed how to use it;
Miss Rhine is musician of remark
able skill. We learned that she had
long studied under the best teachers
in San Francisco; her father is mer-
chant at independence. After this
part of the programme was finished
the hall was cleared for dancing.
There was a fine orchestra, large
company present, and We as strangers
were treated with such courtesy and
kind attention as made us feel as if We
were among friends of long standing.
With an intermission near mid
night for supper, the party kept up
the fun till near daylight. Independ-
ence is quite pretty town, and the
county seat of Inyo. A little oyer a
year ago it was almost totally de-
stroyed by fire. Now it is restored
with better buildings shade trees have
been planted in great numbers and
are growing rapidly; water works are
in course of construction and will soon
be ready for use. There are nice
orchards at and near town, and fruit
of rare excellence is abundant. The
scenery is very grand; the loftiest
SUBMITS of the Sierra tower up a short
distance west from the town, and
streams from the everlasting snow
flow down their sides and through the
streets OF the town. Land OF
the best quality lies stretch
ing for miles in all directions.
Very little of this is yet cultivated.
Under a law enacted at the last session
of the Legislature, an irrigation dis
trict has been organized. \ canal
will be built, starting at Il point on
Ovens River, fifteen miles north OF
the town, and running to Owens
Lake about twenty-one miles south OF
Independence. This will irrigate many
thousand acres of fine land. Other
canals of nearly equal magnitude are
also being built ON the opposite side
of the river from the town. About
one hundred and ten miles of rail-
road remains to be built to give
access to Los Angeles. This will soon
be completed, and then the country
will improve very rapidly. At
present the Carson and Colorado Rail
road gives access to all of western Ne
vada, and the market for all kinds OF
produce is excellent. Farmers here
get better prices for everything they
have to sell than anywhere else in the
State. We were highly pleased with
our visit to Independence, and will
never forget the kindness with which
we were treated there.
We returned home by way of Lake
Roady, Negro creek and Shell Rock /;
found our party all o. X, and
Wednesday, August 9th, We arrived
at the mill we'll pleased with the coun-
try in which we travelled, and we re-
gret that the reader was not with us to
share our comforts W. Bledsoe
in the Tulare Times.
DTIPE WINES